Instinctive Behaviour
by Knife Hand
Summary: Harry gets cold waiting on the front porch of number 4 as a baby, so he does something to get warmer, which changes things immensely (Animagus young Harry, no living with the Dursleys) Chapter 4 up
1. Chapter 1

Title: Instinctive Behaviour

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Harry gets cold waiting on the front porch of number 4 as a baby, so he does something to get warmer, which changes things immensely (Animagus young Harry, no living with the Dursleys)

A/N: This was inspired by two other fics. Hermione Granger and the Prince of Serpents by CreatorZorah and Accidental Animagus by White Squirrel. Choice of Animagus form inspired by Three Turns by Elipsa (and AJ Freas), but Bandit not Bolt.

* * *

It was barley ten minutes after Professor Dumbledore had left the bundle that was Harry Potter on the doorstep of Number 4 that a cold wind blew down the street. The wind caught both the letter that the Professor had left and the corner of the blanket that had been loosely wrapped around the toddler. The letter got blown away and ended up down a storm water drain never to be read while the light blanket was blown off his small body. In less than a minute Harry was shivering. In a desperate attempt to keep Harry alive, his magical core, still unstable from the monumental events of the day before, reached down to one of his latent abilities and did the only thing it could to keep him warm. Sensing that something was going wrong due to its own instability, Harry's magic reached out to anything that could help, and found something compatible.

The pain woke Harry as his body shifted and changed. Fur burst through his skin all over and there was a massive pain in his lower back as his spinal cord extended into a long tail. The second the pain subsided, Harry scurried away from the place of pain, running quickly on all fours into some bushes further down the street. Instinct driving him, he chewed on a few leaves from the bush and then he curled up, wrapping his tail around him, and started dropping off to sleep.

After falling off to sleep, he found himself sitting in a playpen. There was only white outside the playpen, but that did not register to Harry, who was sitting in a pair of denim coveralls with a white t-shirt under it. There were a few toys, a stuffed cat, and a few beginner reading books. There was also a girl sitting across from Harry with dark brown hair in a pink dress.

"Hewwo." Harry said with the lisp of a young child. "I Har-wee"

"I Her-my-o-nee" the girl replied "Wanna play?"

Hermione held out the stuffed cat.

"Yess, Her… Her..." Harry began. "Yess, Nee."

They played for a while, then Hermione picked up one of the beginner picture books.

"Nee, you can?" Harry asked, pointing to the book.

"I weed you." Hermione replied.

Harry tottered over and dropped down next to Hermione, and she began to read to him. Hermione read the story then they played some more, until Hermione suddenly disappeared. A few seconds later the playpen also vanished as Harry awoke, still under the bushes and still an animal. Following the animal instincts, Harry headed north grazing on the foliage as he went, with his long tail pointing strait up into the air.

The pattern followed itself for the next several weeks. By day Harry would move north, eating fruit he found in garbage cans and the plants his instincts told him were edible, and avoiding anything big or noisy which included most people. By night, as he slept Harry would play with Hermione in the playpen. One the third night they had figured out that they could manipulate the playpen when Hermione had mentioned a toy she really liked and it had suddenly appeared in the playpen.

* * *

Hermione was sitting in her back yard, her mother had just going inside to fetch her a drink, when the animal approached. It had been a few weeks since she had started having dreams about 'Har-wee'. The animal was a small kind of… what was that word that her mother had been trying to teach her. Pri? Pir…friend? No. Pri-something. Like a monkey but bigger group than monkeys.

The animal was a dusky brown colour over its back and sides. Under its belly and neck it had white fur, as did its pointed face except for a black nose and black markings around its eyes. While it walked on all fours, its rear legs were much longer than its front legs. The most notable feature though was the long black and white striped tail, which was longer than its body. The animal had slowly emerged from the bushes, its eyes mostly resting on Hermione but occasionally darting around. It would take a few slow steps forward and then pause. The animal had closed three quarters of the distance when the sound of the door to the house opening broke the silence. By the time Hermione's mother had emerged and closed the door behind her, the animal was gone.

* * *

"Nee!" Harry said, bouncing with excitement as Hermione appeared into their dream play pen. "Me! Nee, me!"

"Har-wee?" Hermione asked, happy that he was excited but not sure what he meant.

Harry jumped around some more and in the middle of one of the jumps he turned into the animal she had seen that afternoon.

"Me, Nee." Harry said again after turning back into himself. "Me!"

* * *

Jenifer Granger watched her daughter through the window. Hermione had been spending a lot of time outside the last few days and for some reason she seemed to be reading out loud when outside instead of silently as she did inside. Silently Jenifer moved to the door and into the back yard.

"That done, Har-wee." Hermione said. "Birdy or Doggie now?"

Hermione had put down the book she had been reading and held up two new ones to something in front of her. Did she have an imaginary friend? No, Jenifer moved closer and saw that there was a primate sitting in front of her daughter. A damned if it did not look exactly like the Ring-Tailed Lemurs she had seen on the nature documentaries. More it like a young Lemur

"Hermione, come here honey." Jenifer said in a soft but firm voice.

Both Hermione and the Lemur turned and for a second there was stillness, then the Lemur started to run for the bushes.

"Har-wee, stop." Hermione called.

To Jenifer's great surprise the Lemur actually stopped and looked at Hermione. Slowly the Lemur moved back to Hermione's side but kept an eye on Jenifer.

"Mum, Har-wee." Hermione said. "Har-wee, mum."

Jenifer blinked and then realised that her daughter was introducing her to the Lemur the same way she would introduce a friend.

"Honey, that is a wild animal. It could bite you or have diseases." Jenifer tried to convince Hermione.

"Har-wee smart. Har-wee no hurt me." Hermione declared, before turning to the Lemur. "Har-wee, sheep to mum."

The Lemur looked at Hermione and the Jenifer for a second, and then it moved over to the small pile of children's books and retrieved the one that that was about sheep and held it carefully in its mouth as it half carried, half dragged the book over to Jenifer. It placed the book down in front of Jennifer before returning to Hermione's side.

Hermione settled down to sit on the ground and the Lemur curled up next to her.

Over the next few weeks, Jenifer and William Granger made a few discrete inquires about Lemurs to some Veterinarian friends, including one who worked for the London Zoo. There were no reports of Lemurs missing for any Zoos and the animal seemed to be genuinely attached, imprinted you might say, to Hermione, rarely leaving her side. After obtaining a few shots to give the Lemur, ones that would protect Hermione from any potential diseases without endangering the Lemur and administered by William Granger under the carful supervision of his two year old daughter, the Lemur known as Harry (or Har-wee when Hermione was pronouncing it) was accepted into the Granger household. In under a month it would be sleeping at the foot of Hermione's bed.

A few favours called in and the Grangers even had a legal licence to keep the exotic animal, though not to breed, exhibit or import/export. Harry was soon considered a member of the family. His days were spent playing with Hermione in his Lemur form as a semi-pet. His nights spent in the dream room with Hermione as a human and her best friend.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Instinctive Behaviour

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Harry gets cold waiting on the front porch of number 4 as a baby, so he does something to get warmer, which changes things immensely (Animagus young Harry, no living with the Dursleys)

A/N: There have been a lot of questions as to why Harry's magic linked to Hermione. Was it a Bond? Are they Soulmates? I will explain here as it will not come up within the story's narrative for a long time, if ever. Hermione was the closest Magical with enough Magical Potential. It's like Harry's magic sent out an SOS and Hermione's responded, subconsciously. In this fic, at that time, Hemione was only maybe a dozen miles from Harry. With how slowly young Lemur Harry would travel and avoiding anything that 'scared' his instincts, it took him the few weeks to cover that distance.

* * *

Hermione was sitting in the living room reading, with Harry resting comfortably in his favourite position, seated on her shoulders, hidden by her busy hair except for his face which peaked out by her right cheek and his tail wrapped under her left armpit. Hermione was eleven, almost twelve, and she was on summer vacation from School. School had been both a bane and a boon for Hermione. A bane in that she had very quickly discovered that most of the students, and a few of the teachers, thought she was a 'know-it-all' and assumed that she was trying to show them up. A boon in that she loved to learn and had found a way for Harry to learn with her.

As he was now, Harry would spend the school day sitting on Hermione's shoulders, though generally not as far forward as he was now, instead hiding behind the curtain of her hair just far enough forward to see without being seen. At nights in their dream room, which now resembled Hermione's bedroom rather than the initial playpen, Hermione would make sure that Harry understood what they had learnt that day. In the dream he could walk, run, write and do everything a normal boy could do. Hermione had also found that she enjoyed the lessons teaching Harry. With Harry's friendship and rapt attention as a student, Hermione had learnt that she did not need to push herself forward for recognition in school and that the knowledge itself, and knowing how to apply that knowledge, was all the reward she needed. That's not to say the praise from her parents was unwelcome.

Without Harry, she knew she would be an isolated girl with a need to prove herself to authority figures, but she had Harry and as far as Hermione was concerned, Harry and her parents were all she needed. Harry's white cheeks rubbed against Hermione's own, pulling her out of her introspection. That was the signal that Harry had finished reading the open pages, so she turned the page and began reading herself.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and Hermione heard her mother go to answer the door.

"Hermione, there is someone here to talk to you." Jennifer Granger called.

Hermione put a bookmark into the book and Harry retreated slightly into her hair so as not to be seen as Jennifer escorted an older and slightly severe looking woman into the living room, who was dressed in an emerald green, slightly old-fashioned dress.

"You must be Hermione." The woman said in a Scottish brogue as she sat in a chair across from Hermione. "My name is Professor McGonagall. I work for a special barding school that has some… very specific entrance requirements."

Jennifer sat next to Hermione and put her arm around her daughter, careful to hug her lower around her body to avoid injuring Harry.

"Is there some kind of test?" Hermione asked confused.

"Sort of." McGonagall replied. "In fact you have already passed the required test otherwise I would not be here. You see the school I represent, Hogwarts, is a school of Magic. Your daughter is what we call a Witch, though it has a very different connotation in the Magical World than some of the preconceptions in the Muggle, I mean non-Magical, world."

The Professor then demonstrated Magic by making a few items float and then turning the coffee table into a pig and back again.

"You are never doing that to Harry." Hermione admonished at this animal transformation.

Finally they were convinced that it was not a joke and that Hermione would benefit from going to Hogwarts, McGonagall handed over the book list and general equipment list for First Years.

One item immediately stood out to Hermione.

 _Students may, if they wish, bring an Owl; a Cat or a Toad._

"Are these the only pets allowed?" Hermione asked.

"Is that a problem, Miss Granger?" McGonagall countered.

"If I can't take Harry, I'm not going." Hermione simply stated.

"I'm sorry, but who is this Harry?" McGonagall inquired. "This is the second time he has been mentioned. Is this your son?"

"No." Jennifer replied. "Harry, why don't you show yourself?"

After a moment's pause, Harry moved forward and poked his head out from behind Hermione's hair.

"Good Lord." McGonagall exclaimed.

"As you can see, Harry is a Madagascan Lemur, a Ring-Tailed Lemur to be specific." Jennifer explained. "When Hermione was a toddler, she found Harry and they bonded. It has been almost a decade and we have had no incidents and he is part of the family. They are inseparable."

"I refuse to go if I can't take Harry with me." Hermione reiterated firmly.

"I am sure arrangements can be made." McGonagall assured. "One of the roles I hold at Hogwarts is Deputy Headmistress. Does this mean you will accept?"

"We will have to discuss this with my Husband, who is at work at the moment." Jennifer replied. "Is there some way to contact you when we make our decision?"

McGonagall simply nodded and placed a small plaque down on the table.

"When you have made your decision, please break that plaque. That will inform me that you wish to talk. I will come visit as soon as possible, but as I have other families to notify, I may not be able to come immediately." McGonagall informed. "Till then, I shall take my leave."

* * *

"Damn it." Hermione muttered to herself before raising her voice to be heard over the shower. "Harry, I forgot the shampoo. Can you bring it for me?"

Hearing Harry vocalise a chirp in response, so Hermione resumed washing herself. A minute later there was a scratching at the glass screen door of the shower, which Hermione opened to let Harry in. Harry was just able to hold the shampoo bottle in his front paws as he carefully stepped into the show on his back legs only, and he placed it down on the floor of the shower.

"Thanks Harry." Hermione said, ducking down to pick up the shampoo bottle to put it on the small shelf.

As she was ducked down, Harry jumped up onto her back and climbed up to her shoulders. Both were so used to being together that they thought nothing of the fact Hermione was naked.

"I am so excited, Harry." Hermione said, gently stroking his now soaked fur as he nuzzled his head into her cheek. "Tomorrow we go to Hogwarts. I am so excited to learn, and that Professor McGonagall gave permission for you to come."

As Harry was purposely not using his claws, he slipped as he tried to adjust his position and slid down Hermione's chest only for her to catch him in her arms and give him a big hug.

"Thanks for the shampoo. Off you go now." Hermione said, setting him down and opening the glass screen door.

Harry stepped out of the shower, shook rapidly to dry off, and then scampered out of the bathroom.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Instinctive Behaviour

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Harry gets cold waiting on the front porch of number 4 as a baby, so he does something to get warmer, which changes things immensely (Animagus young Harry, no living with the Dursleys)

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, awaiting the Hogwarts Express to arrive with the students for the new school year. All the parchment work was done for the school year, including the six exemptions from the pet restrictions. Five of those exemptions were for very small pets, like Mr Weasley's Rat or the Hamster Miss Abbott wanted to bring. One was not. It was Miss Granger and her Ring-Tailed Lemur. With Professor McGonagall's assurance that the Lemur, coincidentally called Harry, was well behaved and seemingly trained, and Miss Granger's insistence that she would not attend with her pet, he had approved the exemption.

Thinking of Miss Granger's pet brought another Harry to mind. Harry Potter. Despite ten years of searching, there was no trace of Harry. The two instruments on his side table that were linked to Harry showed that he was both alive and safe, but he had never lived with his Aunt and her family. When Dumbledore had gone back on the second of November 1981, the Dursleys had no idea what he had been talking about when he mentioned Harry, which he had been able to confirm with passive Legilimency without effort. They had been mentally screaming their confusion.

Putting Harry out of his mind, as there was nothing he could do further, the Headmaster turned his attention to his students.

* * *

Hermione sat on the Hogwarts Express, with Harry sleeping across her shoulders, reading a book having gotten there half an early. Ten minutes before the train was scheduled the door to the compartment opened and another First Year Girl entered.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" the girl asked, with a slight bow.

Hermione stood and bowed back, careful not to disturb Harry, before gesturing to the other seat.

By the time the train departed from Kings Cross, there were four more girls in the compartment. The first girl who had entered had been Su Li, a petite Asian girl. Next to enter had been Susan Bones, a pale skinned redhead, and her best friend Hannah Abbott, a slightly chubby strawberry blond girl. Just before the train had departed, Daphne Greengrass, a black-haired girl, and Tracy Davis, who had brown hair, had also joined them.

They spent the first half hour talking generally about themselves.

"Granger, are you related to Hector Dagworth-Granger?" Daphne asked. "The famous Potioneer."

"I don't know." Hermione said after a moment's pause. "I don't recall any Dagworth-Grangers in the family tree, but my Dad's middle name is Hector and it is after a famous relative, so maybe."

"Well, if so, then we are distant cousins." Daphne said.

A Witch with a troll cart full of sweets came buy and the girls, except Hermione, bought a few sweets each. Hermione got a packet of fresh fruit out of her pocket. After a few moments of eating, Hermione heard a chirp.

"What was that?" Hannah asked.

Hermione grabbed a wedge of mandarin and held it up to her shoulder. Harry's arm swept out from Hermione's hair and snatched the mandarin wedge.

"What the hell?" Tracy exclaimed.

"That's just Harry." Hermione said calmly.

"What is Harry?" Susan inquired.

"Come on out, Harry." Hermione said, getting a few chirps in response. "Oh, come on, don't be like that."

After a moment Harry slowly emerged from behind the veil of Hermione's hair. After emerging, Harry looked around at the new girls and their pets. Daphne and Susan both had owls, Tracy had a cat, Hannah had a hamster in a cage and Su did not have a pet.

"What is he?" Daphne asked.

"Harry's a Ring-Tailed Lemur." Hermione replied.

Turning back to Hermione, Harry signed and chirped at her.

 _Girls pretty. Nee more pretty._

Hermione had to supress the urge to groan.

"That is not proper grammar. I taught you better than that." She scolded, getting strange looks from the other. "Harry knows sign language, but sometimes his grammar is atrocious."

"What did he say?" Su asked, causing Hermione to blush slightly.

"He said you were all pretty but I was 'more pretty'." Hermione said, doing air quotes for the last two words.

After that comment, Harry started looking closer at the pets. The two owls looked at him as if sizing up a competitor, the cat ignored him in favour of sleeping and the hamster cowered in the corner of its cage, afraid of him.

After a circuit of the carriage, Harry settled down on Su Li's lap and signed at Su. The Asian girl looked over at Hermione in confusion.

"He wants you to scratch behind his ear." Hermione explained. "He prefers his left ear."

Su hesitantly began scratching behind Harry's left ear and he chirped a thanks. After a few moments, Su became more comfortable with the weight on her lap and the method of petting the Lemur.

* * *

Rubeus Hagrid stood waiting for the new First Years. He was kind of upset that Harry Potter was not attending, as this would have been the boy's first year, but he hid that behind his normal happy demeanour. Hagrid was one of the last members of the Wizarding World to spend any time with Harry Potter and the news he had disappeared had hit him hard.

A group of six girls approached to his called for the First Years. He did not pay much attention until he heard a chirp from the bushy hair of one of the girls. Animal enthusiast that he was, Hagrid instantly knew that was a primate chirp rather than a bird chirp. A white pointed face with black markings around its eyes and a black nose poked out from behind the curtain of hair. Even though it was not Magical, Hagrid recognised the Ring-Tailed Lemur instantly.

"And who might you be?" Hagrid asked in a gentle tone of voice.

"Hermione Granger." The girl responded.

"You are lucky to have such a friend as that. What's her name?" he asked.

"His name is Harry." Hermione replied, putting a slight emphasis on 'his'.

"Well, take good care of him." Hagrid advised. "And when you get a chance, come down to my hut and we'll talk."

With that he did a quick count, found all the First Years had gathered, so he led them to the boats to cross the Black Lake.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Instinctive Behaviour

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.

Summary: Harry gets cold waiting on the front porch of number 4 as a baby, so he does something to get warmer, which changes things immensely (Animagus young Harry, no living with the Dursleys)

A/N: Just to be clear on two points. Firstly, the Sorting Hat only reads personalities, not memories, so it would not know all the student's secrets and make leaps of logic that the student themselves have not made, like Lemur Harry is Harry Potter. Secondly, how bloody big do some of you think the Sorting Hat is that it would cover Lemur Harry as he is sitting on Hermione's shoulders. Sure, it covers First Years eyes, but not their entire head and shoulders.

* * *

Hermione felt Harry jump down off her shoulders and scamper off to a quiet corner of the crowded Ravenclaw Common Room. Su, who was beside Hermione, watched in fascination as Harry weaved his way, almost completely unnoticed, through the legs of the milling students then up onto a chair, across the fireplace mantle, to top of one on the smaller bookcases and then up to the top of one of the taller bookcases. He disappeared from view for a second and then his head popped over the edge before pulling back again.

The two Fifth Year Ravenclaw Prefects went over the general rules of the House. Eight levels of the Ravenclaw tower was, apart from the bottom floor with the Common Room, was divided into two separate dorms, one for males and one for females, which had no access to each other than through the Common Room. The year levels went up the tower, with the exception of the Seventh Years who were on the level below the First Years to provide any assistance to the lower year levels and to respond to any issues in the Common Rooms.

Each level had five rooms for two occupants and a communal bathroom, with First Years being on the second level above the Common Room. As there were only six female and four males amongst the First Years, only two girls would be required to share and the boys could have their own room with a room to spare, but it was encouraged that they share rooms rather than go solo. From what Hermione had gathered at dinner and the milling of students around the Common Room, it seemed that up to Fifth Year the average was about ten students per year, but Sixth Year had fourteen, eight boys and six girls, and Seventh Year had seventeen, nine girls and eight boys. Based on the histories she had read, Hermione attributed this to the 'First Blood War', which had ended around a decade ago. The last six odd years of the war were brutal and with so many deaths and people seriously injured, the birth rate dropped dramatically.

Hermione looked at Su who nodded that she would be amicable to sharing rooms with Hermione. It seemed as if Mandy and Amanda were going to bunk, as were Padma and Lisa. Two of the boys had moved next to each other to indicate they would be roommates, but the other two stood apart, indicating they were considering going solo.

Once the Prefects dismissed the First Years, the Common Room had cleared somewhat, but there was still a little bit of a crowd by the stiars. Hermione and Su wandered around the Common Room, looking at the bookcases and reading chairs. After a circuit, they made their way to the girl's dorm stairs and were half way up the stairs when Hermione stopped.

"Harry, come on." Hermione called back down the stairs.

"Boy's aren't allowed up there… Woah!" A Seventh Year began.

The last exclamation was made when Harry, who had jumped down, via the lower bookcases and the fireplace mantle, ran past her and then leaped up onto the railing of the stairs to the female dorms, scurried up the railing and then leaped onto Hermione's shoulders. He let out a chirp of pleasure as Su took a moment to scratch him behind the left ear before Hermione began to climb the stairs, followed a second later by Su.

They entered one of the rooms on the First Year's level, which had the door open to indicate it was not occupied. The room had two separate four poster beds, with curtains in a deep blue; a pair of study desks with a small shelf above them to store books; a single comfortable two-seater couch and a pair of wardrobes. A few moments after Su closed the door, their School Trunks appeared at the foot of the beds.

"Right side ok with you?" Hermione asked, as her own trunk had appeared below the left-hand bed.

"Yeah." Su replied.

Harry had jumped down by this point and was running around exploring the room, chittering away in excitement.

* * *

"So, what do you think of Hogwarts so far?" Harry asked as soon as Hermione appeared.

The dreamscape still represented Hermione's bedroom at home, with Harry sitting in her favourite reading armchair. Dream Harry was slightly taller than Hermione, his clear, unobstructed emerald eyes shining out in a way that Hermione found almost hypnotising. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, much as she was, as the dreamscape was never hot or cold.

"You were there with me for it, so what did you think?" She replied, giving herself time to think, and stop his eyes distracting her.

A part of Hermione wished Harry could be Dream Harry all the time. She occasionally fantasised that he was human and he would be standing by her side as they learnt magic together and went on adventures. Another side of her was kind of glad he was a Lemur in the real world, because if he was not, he would not be curled up in the same bed as she was in the Ravenclaw Dorm. Alongside her parents, Harry was the most important person in Hermione's life. Moving to the bed, she dropped onto it.

"I asked first." Harry said with a smirk that made something inside Hermione melt, but in a good way.

"The Castle is amazing, and I am kind of glad I am rooming with Su. I want to keep being friends with Susan, Hannah, Daphne and Tracy too, even though they are in different Houses. It will be interesting to see what classes are like when they start tomorrow." Hermione replied.

"Me too." Harry replied. "But you are on your own for Potions Class. It's like when you are cooking with mum. There's no way I am getting that close to that many open flames."

"I know, I know." Hermione said. "Honestly, one spilt soup and I never hear the end of it."

Harry stood from the reading chair and joined Hermione on the bed. She curled up against his side, in an unconscious mirroring of how Harry, in his Lemur form, was curled up against Hermione's side under the blankets in the Dorm, as Scotland was much colder than home was.

Hermione just lay there and enjoyed the feeling of closeness. With a thought, Harry manipulated the dreamscape and the light that filled the room dimmed. Harry idly stoked Hermione's hair as she snuggled into his side.

* * *

Su was a morning person, usually getting up at five am, but she was having a lie in before the first day of classes, so she was awake when, just after six, Hermione re-entered the room, dressed in a bath robe and towelling her hair dry, with a damp Harry perched on her shoulder.

"Harry showers with you?" Su asked.

"Sometimes." Hermione replied. "It depends on his mood."

Su got out of bed and began to get ready for her own shower. Harry chirped and signed at Hermione. Su swore to herself that she would learn the signs that Harry used so that she could understand him.

"No, Harry." Hermione scolded. "You were just in the shower with me, you can't have another with Su."

Harry scrambled over to Su and gave her a pleading look.

"Not today." Su said, but she scratched him behind the ear. "Off you go."

After one more pleading look, Harry ran to Hermione's bed and curled up as Su left the room and Hermione began to get dressed. Three quarters of an hour later, Su was back in the room, bathed and dressed, so Harry settled into his usual place behind a curtain of Hermione's hair and the girls made their way down to breakfast.

TBC…


End file.
